6 points about Beauty and the Beast

I had planned to do 6 points about The Great Wall, but once I got a chance to see this instead, I took up the opportunity to write about this straight away. I have seen the original animated version, but only when I was younger. So, obviously I can’t remember a whole lot about it. This is almost a good thing, as I can properly judge this movie as its own movie, and not as a remake. You all know what Beauty and the Beast is about, a beautiful girl, Belle, ends up in a big cursed castle, inhabited by a beast. Let’s get into my 6 points about Beauty and the Beast.

1. All of the casting was perfect.

Emma Watson turned down La La Land to be in this movie, and I am glad that she did. She was perfect and stunning as Belle, and looked at ease while playing the iconic character. Arguably, the more iconic character of the Beast was also played perfectly by rising star Dan Stevens. Again, he looked at ease playing this character. The two had decent chemistry together as well. Luke Evans was born to play Gaston, and he was excellent also. He played that arrogant (insert bad word here) role perfectly. His, recently revealed to be gay, sidekick LeFou was portrayed perfectly by Josh Gad. He easily gave one of my favourite performances in the entire film, and one that I think will go down as underrated. All of the voice actors, who were playing the household item’s were perfect. Sir Ian McKellan, Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci were all fantastic, and that is just to name a few. Some people were saying that they had some problems with some of the casting, but I have to say that they got it perfect down to a tee.

2. The story was as you remember it.

And you probably remember it as very good. To be fair, it was a very good story. It had a wonderful message for kids, and enough there to make adults shed a few tears. Some may complain that it is just a money grabbing movie that is just rehashing over a once told story. That is hard to argue against, but it is still a very well told rehashing of a very good story. There a few added on bits that explore the past of Belle’s family which was interesting, and if anything, this movie was an expansion on that original story. If you liked the original, there’s not a whole lot for you to dislike about this movie.

3. The music was very good, but sometimes out of place.

One of the main parts of Beauty and the Beast, and why it was so successful, is the music. There was some of the classic songs in this movie that were excellent and served the story well. Yet there was a few new ones, that were fine as musical pieces, but didn’t fit in with the story, or the movie very well. Some musical numbers dragged out, and I found myself thinking “God is this song really still going on?” Or sometimes there was just no need for there to be another 4 minute musical number, and it dragged me out of the movie quite a bit. The musical numbers that served a purpose to the story and weren’t just plopped in to fill 4 minutes and get everybody’s feet tapping just didn’t work. They should have taken a look at La La Land and seen when and when not there should be a musical number. Again, the music was all excellent, it just didn’t always fit in with the movie.

4. The household objects stole the movie.

As you probably already know, the castle is haunted or cursed or whatever, and these former humans are trapped inside household objects such as a clock or a wardrobe or a candlestick. For me, they stole the movie. The back and forth between Cogsworth and Lumiere was brilliantly executed. It really is a testament to how well these characters were executed on screen, given how well the Beast and Belle and Gaston were all portrayed. The movie probably could have done with a bit more humour here and there, and anything humours that did happen, it was from these characters. Sir Ian and Ewan McGregor had wonderful chemistry together and they should be proud of this work.

5. The CGI was fine, as well as all of the other technical aspects of this movie.

There was nothing overly noticeable, yet nothing was a quite as unbelievable as The Jungle Book. The Beast looked pretty good, as well as all of the typically inanimate objects, but again, this CGI won’t break new ground in the way that The Jungle Book did. The production design, hair and makeup and costume design was all excellent, and will probably have their eyes on some Oscar nods come awards season later in the year. The score was excellent also, and was done by Alan Menken, someone to look out or in future projects.

5. Overall, Beauty and the Beast was a very good, well-meaning story that just didn’t hit the heights of the original.

I really enjoyed this movie. There were even times that I was tearing up. The characters were excellent and were acted brilliantly by an overly talented cast. The directing was fine, but there was a lack of a new creative vision from director Bill Condon. He stuck to what he knew would work and it did. I probably preferred The Jungle Book than this movie, just because of how brave The Jungle Book was, but this was still a very enjoyable movie. Families will love this movie, and you should definitely go out and add to its already enormous box office total. I will rate Beauty and the Beast 8.25/10.